I have never taken one apart; exactly where is the "slip joint" in question? I don't see one in the pix.

There is also this one, with a pic of something unrelated, right part number. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intermediate...9ZTMAg&vxp=mtr

Same one on Amazon; $4 cheaper.

Well, if they are selling for just under $100 on eBay, I guess I'll take your advice and just forget about it. :smile:That's definitely more than I'm willing to pay for a menial rattle that's not affecting anything else. If I take a notion to, maybe I'll lather it up with some chassis grease every so often to ward off the noise, if it becomes bothersome.


Thanks,
M Ridzon

The slip joint is the shaft itself two pieces

Intermediate Steering Shaft = Clunking!
 

2010 HHR SS Aqua Metallic Blue w/AA5 option, w/89680 miles. Have been fighting steering wobble/clunking especially during braking for some time. Swapped out front rotors 2-3 times and was better for short period, then back again. Each time rotors were checked by me and had negligible run-out/thickness variations.(never could figure why changing rotors temporarily fixed problem!). Bought new GM OEM intermediate shaft. Old shaft came out much easier than expected. Put new shaft, and then old shaft in vise and twisted back/forth inspecting for wear. Both new and old shaft had only tiniest of movement. Oh well, lets put new shaft in anyways. Damn :grrrr: can not get upper universal to go onto power steering motor splined shaft. Back on with the old shaft and tightened both end's clamping bolts really tight! Been two days driving now and all rattling/wobbling/clunking in steering has disappeared. Sent new shaft back to GM Parts. My theory is that the bottom joint (to steering rack) is not splined, but a square male/female clamped fit, and that either the clamping bolt had slightly loosened, and/or the square joint got worn and needed to be re-tightened.(splined connetion good - square connection not as good :yikes:)
Sorry for being long winded!!

My prediction is that the rattle will return within a week or two. My guess is that you had the old shaft out of the car and after handling it, twisting it, moving it, sliding it, etc., the grease in the slip joint moved enough to buffer and suppress the rattle temporarily. But after you drive it some, the grease will squish around and move out of the way to then allow metal-to-metal contact on the slip joint again, thus leading to another rattle.

I've experienced it myself and it's always due to me tampering with the shaft thus moving the grease.

Just my $0.02.

P.S. Check your front sway bar bushings. I found these to be a major source of clunking during turns on my HHR SS. After replacing, most of the front end clunking was gone, except for the aforementioned steering shaft clunk. But I'm unwilling to repair the steering shaft because it's a dog chasing its tail; i.e., it's only a matter of time before the noise will return with a replacement shaft. Check out this other thread where I talked about replacing my OEM bushings with polyurethane bushings: https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/brak...iameter-58879/

Wobble/clunk during braking often indicates the lower control arm bushings are gone, quite common.

For me, I needed new tie rods in my HHR, and had the famed clunk. I replaced the steering rack and Intermediate shaft and I still have the clunk. For me, it is located in the steering clumn itself, requiring removal of the airbag, wheel, etc to replace. Im living with it. LOL

Famed “Thunk”
 

The symptoms sound more like rack & pinion to me.

Yup. Failed to mention I had that too. Since I replaced the whole rack im not sure if it was internal or just the tie rod ends, but the ends were extremely loose and filled with rusty water so yeah LOL. Noise went away after replacement of the rack. Also, the inner tie rods were sloppy as well.